Subirats suspended for 1 year after administrative anti-doping error

Jun 22, 2011

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Ouch, Venezuelan Albert Subirats, who won gold in the 50 fly and silver in 100 fly at last year’s World Championships in Dubai, has been suspended by FINA for 1 year, after three “filing violations” within an 18-month period. Meaning that he failed to properly notify FINA of his time and place for drug-testing availability.

And get this, Subirats contended that he has sent all of his proper whereabouts to the Venezuelan Swimming Federation in a timely manner, verified by him with email documentation, but that the VSF had failed to properly file that information with FINA. He even showed that he had expressed concern about the federation sending the information to FINA on time.

Albert Subirats

Comments

2 responses to “Subirats suspended for 1 year after administrative anti-doping error”

rokur

June 22, 2011

From SwimmingWorld Magazine

Subirats drew a one-year ban due to “a combination of three filing failures within an eighteen-month period.” Subirats had kept the Venezuela Swimming Federation updated on his whereabouts, and had assumed that the VSF had kept FINA updated on his whereabouts. The FINA Doping Panel concluded that Subirats did not have the intention of evading doping tests, and that his continued history of negative doping controls were in his favor.

The FINA Doping Panel, however, ruled that Subirats and the VSF demonstrated a lack of understanding of the proper reporting structure, and that the “ultimate responsibility” falls on “the athlete himself” when it comes to providing updated location information to the testing authorities. Therefore, the FINA Doping Panel gave Subirats the minimum sanction allowed within the rules. Subirats’ one-year ban started on May 7, 2011.

Reply
1. Ernesto
  
  June 29, 2011
  
  It is worth noting, that the same day he was granted with the 1-year suspension by FINA, a different swimmer was found positive in his anti-doping test and he just recieved a 2-months sanction. Does that makes any sense? In case Subirats really failed to send his whereabouts, which is is not true either, is that a more serious failure than consuming steroids, for instance? If FINA did not know where Subirats was in the past 18 months, how could he pass succesfully three anti-doping tests in that same period? He was even tested this same year. Finally, a last question, If it is a 1-year suspension, why his marks from January 2011 have been eliminated and the suspension ends precisely in May 2012, just about a month before next Olympic Games?
  
  I am quite sure, Subirats will not win 7 or 10 gold medals in Olympics (I wish), so I can not understand why such an unfair measure on a swimmer that has worked hard and fair to reach the conditions he has and achieve the goals he has.
  
  Reply